Basements seem like a great place for scares. They’re often dimly lit and lightly trafficked, which means you’re probably not very familiar with your basement and there are many places for something creepy to hide. That’s why many horror movies have used basements as the backdrop for truly terrifying scenes. Which ones are the scariest? Consider these top 10 terrifying basements in movies, and visit this site for more.

10. Parasite – 2.2 Basement Evil Score

In Parasite, the true horror is not any of the characters; it’s the system of classism that the characters have to struggle against, but eventually succumb to. The basement is simply a symbol of this classism. Although the basement doesn’t necessarily function as the backdrop for horrifying scenes, the presence of the basement as being the Kims’ home makes you truly remember the ways in which the Kims are a product of the system.

9. The Grudge – 2.8 Basement Evil Score

During The Grudge, there are many terrifying scenes. The movie follows a horrifying curse, which comes into being when someone dies because of extreme anger or sadness. Detective Muldoon, one of the main characters, eventually travels into the basement armed only with a flashlight. The true fear of this scene is that she can’t really see what she’s looking for; the basement is dimly-lit, and she only has a flashlight to keep guard.

8. The Rocky Horror Picture Show – 3.8 Basement Evil Score

When you think of horrifying movies, you might not immediately think of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Despite its name, the movie functions almost more as a comedy; it draws on cheesy, campy 50s-era horror movies to craft a movie that’s as amusing as it is scary. Main character Dr. Frank-n-Furter has his laboratory in the basement of a British castle, and he keeps the Medusa Transducer, which turns humans into statues, in the basement.

7. The Evil Dead – 4.4 Basement Evil Score

The Evil Dead stars a group of people fighting against the Deadites, who are undead spirits that attempt to possess people’s bodies. The movie is mostly set in a cabin in the wood in rural Tennessee, near Knoxville. The Deadites live in a fruit cellar underneath the home, leading to some truly terrifying scenes. Even more spooky is the fact that the cabin from the movie has burned down since the initial filming of the movie.

6. The Amityville Horror – 5.8 Basement Evil Score

In The Amityville Horror, an unsuspecting family moves into a home that has a horrifying secret. The people the story centers around insist that the story is real, although some are less convinced. There are many terrifying scenes in the movie. However, one particularly unsettling scene happens in the basement — the family discovers a four foot by five foot crimson red room, where terrifying things happen.

5. A Nightmare On Elm Street – 6.0 Basement Evil Score

In A Nightmare on Elm Street, a constant battle rages between the real world and the dream world. The antagonist of the movie, Freddy, can only harm people in the dream world. However, when those antagonists die in the dream world, they also die in the real world. In the dream world, Freddy has a Nightmare Factory in his basement. That’s where he tortures and eventually kills many of the people he hunts.

4. Psycho – 6.6 Basement Evil Score

There are many movie tropes and concepts that Psycho either created or popularized. On top of the fact that Psycho has had a significant impact on film history as a whole, it also has a number of extremely terrifying scenes. One of those scenes occurs in the basement of Norman Bates’ home. When the main character enters the underground fruit cellar, she finds the mummified corpse of Norman Bates’ mother.

3. The Evil – 9.0 Basement Evil Score

There are very few things that are as absolutely terrifying as a portal to Hell, and that’s exactly what The Evil offers. When someone purchases a home above sulfur pits in New Mexico, they have no way of knowing that the so-called “sulfur pits” actually create a portal to Hell. One of the reasons this is especially scary is that the characters unleash the terrors of the Hell portal by accidentally opening the trap door to the basement.

2. Get Out – 9.6 Basement Evil Score

To maximize terror, Get Out utilizes a wide variety of well-known tropes, then subverts those tropes. A great example of this is the home that most of the movie takes place in. It’s a classical home with colonial architecture, and most people will likely see it as a beautiful and simplistic design. However, after setting up the innocence of the home, Get Out subverts this, showcasing a laboratory in the basement that transposes consciousnesses, sending the main character to the Sunken Place.

1. The Silence of the Lambs – 10.0 Basement Evil Score

There are many terrifying basements on this list, but this one certainly tops the list. In this movie, the main character is trying to find a serial killer by teaming up with a different serial killer. The first serial killer, who goes by the name Buffalo Bill, captures women and traps them in a dry well under his home, then starves them to death before skinning their corpses. That level of true horror is why it maxes out the Basement Evil Score.

Conclusion

Many people find basements extremely terrifying by their very nature. If you rarely venture into your basement, it’s common to think of your basement as being a fairly scary part of your home. That makes it the perfect backdrop for an absolutely horrifying basement experience. Have you been looking for a movie that will really terrify you? Consider one of these so you can find a new favorite horror movie next time you sit down to watch one.